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Low

Cost

Elementary 

School-Oriented

Minimal

Effort

Students explore fruits and vegetables of a variety of colors through art, classroom lessons, and tasting opportunities.

Objective

Emphasize the importance of a varied diet and motivate students to increase their consumption of colorful fruits and vegetables.

The Event 

As part of coursework or after school, students create a colorful mural using photos or drawings of fruits and vegetables. 

Students can incorporate these images into a rainbow, painter’s palette, prism, or other creative design that highlights the 

many colors of fruits and vegetables. The mural can then be displayed in the school cafeteria to remind everyone to “eat their 

colors.”

To create an interactive event, hold “Color Days” schoolwide throughout the year, where activities revolve around the colors of 

certain fruits and vegetables. These events can be integrated into the calendar, tying colors and fruits and vegetables to certain 

observances (for instance, green for St. Patrick’s Day). Events can feature a tasting of the fruits and vegetables that match the 

designated color and theme of the day. Consider inviting students to wear clothes in the “color of the day,” or challenge them to see 

how many fruits and vegetables of the designated color they can name or identify in a display.

Planning

Gather a group to help plan the activities. Consider involving the art teacher, school nutrition services staff, and the parent 

organization (e.g., PTA or PTO) for coordinating the Color Day tastings and mural display. Teachers can integrate lessons about 

fruit and vegetable variety into their existing coursework. 

Determine who should participate. These activities are especially well-suited for kindergarten and lower elementary school 

students. Consider whether or not to invite older elementary school students to participate in the tastings.
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School

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Encourage the school principal and other staff to contribute artwork to the mural and 

participate in Color Day activities with the students. 

Consider planting a school garden that will yield fruits and vegetables of a variety of colors 

(see page 56 for a school gardening event).

Enter the names of staff who participate in the Color Day tasting events into a drawing for 

a “rainbow fruit and vegetable basket” filled with produce of every color.

Classroom

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Kindergarten teachers can use Team Nutrition’s Discover MyPlate: Lesson 3: Eat Your Colors

(see appendix, page 94) to tie the event into educational content on the five senses, color 

sorting, math, reading, and more. 

First and second grade teachers can use Team Nutrition’s Serving Up MyPlate: Level 1

curriculum (see appendix, page 94), which invites students to write a short story about a 

day in the life of their favorite fruit or vegetable.

Third and fourth grade teachers can use the Detective Veggie Dice in Team Nutrition’s 

The Great Garden Detective Adventure: Lesson 4 (see appendix, page 95) to teach children 

about eating a variety of vegetables.

Fifth and sixth grade teachers can use Team Nutrition’s Dig In!: Lesson 3: Healthy From the 

Ground Up materials (see appendix, page 95). These materials invite classes to prepare 

a rainbow bean salsa and create a comic strip about how eating a colorful variety of 

vegetables helps you play hard. 

Cafeteria

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Collaborate with your school nutrition director on how to implement the Color Day tasting 

activities. Ask the director to highlight colorful fruits and vegetables on the school menu. 

Display the colorful mural in the school cafeteria to remind everyone to “eat their colors.”

School nutrition directors can offer training for school nutrition services staff on ways to offer, 

prepare, and present fruits and vegetables. Team Nutrition’s Fact Sheets for Healthier School 

Meals (see appendix, page 100) include handouts titled “Jazz Up Your Menu with Fruits,” 

“Vary Your Vegetables,” and “Serve More Dry Beans and Peas.” The Food Buying Guide for 

Child Nutrition Programs (see appendix, page 100) can help in planning how much food to 

buy for the correct number of servings you will need.
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Team Up for Success (cont’d)

Community

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Ask local grocery stores to donate circulars for students to use in their mural of colorful 

fruits and vegetables. Inquire about donations of fresh fruits and vegetables to use in tasting 

activities or to create rainbow fruit and vegetable baskets to use as prizes.

Invite a local chef to demonstrate for students the preparation of colorful, healthy foods, 

such as the Purple Power Bean Wrap from the Recipes for Healthy Kids Cookbooks (see 

appendix, page 99).

Media 

•	 Take photos of the cafeteria mural and post them on the school’s Web site or in the newsletter.

Home

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Send a letter to students’ families (see appendix, page 90) explaining the activity and 

encouraging them to help the students bring in pictures of fruits and vegetables from fliers, 

magazines, or coloring books to use in their artwork. 

Send 8- to 10-year-old students home with the Fuel up with Fruits and Veggies activity sheet 

(see appendix, page 104) to further encourage them to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables.

Create a parent handout by consulting Tips, Advice, and Guidance for Moms of Elementary 

School Children (see appendix, page 100).

Send home colorful fruit and vegetable recipes from the Recipes for Healthy Kids 

Cookbooks (see appendix, page 99), such as the Crunchy Hawaiian Chicken Wrap, Confetti 

Soup, and Rainbow Rice.

Country View Elementary School in Winfield, KS, hosted an Eat the Rainbow event. More than 400 students and parents 

sampled a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables and voted on their favorite from each color group. The winning foods 

included cantaloupe (orange), pineapple (yellow), blackberries (blue/purple), dried cranberries (red), and kiwi (green).

Students at Beech Bluff Elementary School in Jackson, TN, drew fruits and vegetables and identified the items they drew 

using fun adjectives like “brain-boosting bananas” and “A+ apples.” The school held a contest to select the winning pictures, 

which were displayed along the cafeteria lunch line. Winning students also received goody bags that included pedometers, 

jump ropes, and activity books related to health and fitness.

At Carson Elementary School in Cincinnati, OH, students, staff, parents, and volunteers came together to paint a mural 

featuring physical activity and good nutrition. The Nutrition Council and teachers facilitated classroom nutrition activities, along 

with taste tests of vegetables and flavored waters (fresh lemon, orange, cucumber, and mint). During recess, Action for Healthy 

Kids members and volunteers led students in organized playground games.